


Ontogenesis

by keegank



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: (and earth lesbians too), F/F, M/M, Mild Gore, canon non-compliant, space lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-19 07:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keegank/pseuds/keegank
Summary: Through a series of convoluted events, Invader Tenn ends up crashing to planet Urth after her narrow escape from planet Meekrob. From her time there, she starts to realize just how badly the Tallest ruined her... and what she can do to fix it.This fic takes place around two years after Enter the Florpus, and is the first project of this scale I've ever attempted. Be gentle with me, please. There will also be a side-story focusing on Miyuki with parallels to the main plot. Warning: lesbians & a lot of big words as chapter titles. Don't be ashamed to pull out a dictionary, God knows I did.
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Almighty Tallest Miyuki/Commander Poki, Almighty Tallest Purple/Almighty Tallest Red, Gaz/Gretchen, Invader Skoodge/Zim, Tak/Invader Tenn, dib/a good night's rest
Comments: 13
Kudos: 14





	1. Clotho

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter is a bit short, i think. apologies for that! i tried making it as long as i could. future chapters will be longer, probably. this is basically just an introduction.

Sometimes, Tenn could look at the stars up close. If she had the courage to leave her ship, she could hold one in her hands.

She preferred it when she passed through the stars. It was just them and Ros to keep her company then- and that was when Ros was functioning properly. Sometimes they would glitch and spit red sparks. During these times, Tenn would pat them gently and tell them to go back into sleep mode, leaving her alone with the stars. Though there were times she’d stop passing through them, leaving the nearest clusters miles away. There would be nothing but black for hours or even a few days. She called the travel through the blackness the Long Dark, a cripplingly lonely period of nothing but solitude. She’d woken Ros up during a moment like this once. The robot tried to greet her, but instead made an ear-splitting noise like a scream and the grinding of gears. A very shaken Tenn immediately put them back to sleep, opting instead to let them awaken by themselves from now on.

Oh, she’d tried to contact the Tallest and go home once, twice, a thousand times. They didn’t reply. Nothing but radio silence since Meekrob. The other Invaders referred to what she had done as “going AWOL”. But she’d spent months in space after she’d fled, and if her messages to the Tallest hadn’t gone through, they must have considered her a deserter by now, a deviant, a dirty, disgusting defect. But that wasn’t true, it wasn’t- Tenn had every intention of returning, she certainly would have gotten captured by the Meekrob if she had stayed, they could very well have killed her! But the Tallest never got her messages. That wasn’t her fault. 

Certainly, they wouldn’t have forgotten her? Maybe none of the transmissions ever got through. Clarity would be nice. But whatever the reason, Tenn was still stranded in space, loneliness and resentment growing in her. She has graduated from training top in her class in everything from stealth and tracking and combat techniques. Of course, stealth didn’t exactly help when you were assigned to a planet of beings made of pure light energy. And it didn’t help when exploding SIR units gave away your position.

Now her only hope was to find a habitable planet to hide on and find sustenance. After that? She didn’t know. Would she ever be able to return to Irk? She didn’t even know if she would be able to repair Ros, which was terrifying for her. Besides the stars, which came and went, Ros was the only thing she had for company through the long, solitary journey through space. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing them. She’d become far too emotionally dependent on the little robot.

\---

Eventually, for the first time in what felt like weeks, Ros had awoken. They’d hopped up beside Tenn’s chair, looking up at her with its big old eyes. Tenn smiled at it, patting its little head.

“Hey, buddy.” Tenn said to them, flinching slightly. It had been so long since she’d heard someone talking, even her own voice sounded foreign to her. “How about you bring up the map for me?”  
Ros pulled a small hologram on a string out of their head. The top had mostly popped off thanks to the attack it had suffered at Meekrob. The small robot tapped the hologram once, bringing up a map of the solar system. Tenn gazed at it, rubbing her chin.  
“So we’re in the Milky Way now, huh?” she asked Ros, looking around. She hummed for a moment, about to move on when she noticed something.

One of the planets had foliage. And water. Tenn tapped it with her left finger curiously, bringing up some information about it. It read “Planet URTH. Habitable. Not currently set to be invaded.”

“So no fellow Irkens..” she mumbled softly, “but habitable… this could be the planet we’ve been looking for! What say you, Ros?”  
The SIR unit gave a thumbs up in reply. Tenn laughed and dropped the hologram back into its head. “Okay! To planet Urth we go.”

She sat up in her chair and took hold of the controls, charting a course to the green and blue planet off in the distance. For the first time in ages, Tenn was beaming, her antennae wiggling, finally having something to look forward to other than Ros coming alive again and the end of the Long Dark.

\---

It took a day (or maybe a week, after all of this, Tenn had practically no sense of the passage of time) for Tenn to get close to Urth, but when she did, she set the landing gear to work immediately. In her anticipation, she didn’t notice the micrometeorite headed her way.

It was just a speck of cosmic dust, far too small for the navigation system to detect, but travelling with enough force and velocity to pierce the ship’s armour like a bullet. It hits the gas canister, leaving a straight line of tiny punctures from which air and cooling fluid vent into space. Tenn shrieks and jumps at the fuel tank, trying to plug the holes with her hands, but it’s no good. Her ship goes down, hurtling away from the sun and the stars and the Long Dark and towards the Urth’s surface.

For the inhabitants of Earth, Tenn’s ship looked like nothing more than a shooting star. Kids wished upon it, it even got a few “ooh”s and “ahh”s.   
One of them, however, noticed that it was leaving a smoke trail.. and flaming. And when it got close, he saw it was emblazoned with the Invader emblem.

\---

Tenn awoke to feel considerably lighter than she had in the last few minutes she’d spent conscious. It took her a while to actually open her eyes, and when she did she was hit with an immediate wave of confusion. She sat up and gazed around, tugging a blanket off her small, skinny frame. How it even got on top of her in the first place was of no concern to her; how did she get here? And where was she? In front of her was a large television screen, and she was sitting on a rather uncomfortable pink sofa. There was someone talking- no, two people talking in the other room. This entire situation made Tenn uncomfortable, and that was before a new thought hit her-- if Ros was gone--

“Well, I couldn’t let them die!”

A voice rang out from the kitchen, louder and more clear than before. Tenn stood up and tiptoed as silently as possible towards the door, pressing her head against the wall and listening close.

“You should have ASKED ME! This is my base--”

“I couldn’t leave them out there! What if a human had found them-- what if DIB had found them?! He’d have them dissected!”

While the strangers argued in the other room, Tenn caught notice of a small robot wiggling its way out from under the couch. For a brief moment, her heart soared-- but then she saw that it was not Ros… in fact, it was a different SIR unit entirely. Tenn narrowed her eyes; exactly what was going on here?

“That’s NOT our problem!”

“Yes, it is! The humans could dissect the newcomer and think there are more of us along with them, and if Dib catches wind of that, he’ll rat us out faster than a splizz in our squeedzroop!”

The tiny robot cocked its head at Tenn, who shook hers frantically, pressing a finger to her lips in a desperate attempt to get the robot to not give away her position. It didn’t reply, just absentmindedly ran past her into the kitchen and screamed: “ARE YOU GUYS FIGHTING??? ARE YOU GETTIN’ A DIVOOORCE???”

Voice number one immediately went on the comforting path, hushing the small robot with a “No, no, Gir, everything’s okay.” Voice number two huffed, and there was a slight bit of movement in the room again.

“OHH. OKIE.” said the robot, apparently named Gir. “BY THE WAAY… THERE’S A CLONE OF DAD STANDING RIGHT THERE.” Tenn’s heart sank.

There was silence for a good fifteen seconds before Tenn stepped out into the doorway, and what she saw made her antennae droop.  
Two other Irkens and the tiny control unit were both staring at her- one, an almost abnormally short Irken with red eyes and a stumpy, chubby build. The second… a spitting image of herself, same height, same build- so horribly familiar, with his antennae cut off at the tips to prevent them from curling, his narrowed ruby eyes aimed at her with a sort of confused resentment, and it was so much like him to do so that Tenn couldn’t stop herself from blurting out the word “Brother?”

Zim softened almost right away, but the small figure beside him simply squinted in confusion.   
“...Tenn? It’s YOU? What are you doing on Urth?”  
“Who cares?” Tenn laughed, throwing her arms around her brother. “I haven’t seen you in so long! I thought you were still exiled in Foodcourtia!”  
“I was, but I ESCAPED!! Then the Tallest, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make me an Invader. They gave me the most IMPORTANT mission of ALL!”  
“THAT’S A LIE!” piped up Gir.  
“They didn’t give him a mission.” the short Irken added. “The Tallest lied to get rid of him! His PAK still has him written as a food service drone.”  
“NOT true, Skoodge!!” Zim said furiously. “I was talking to the Tallest just the other day, telling them about my recent plan to destroy the Dib-stink!”

“You’re in contact with the Tallest?!” Tenn shouted, grabbing Zim by the shoulders. “Can I?! I need to speak to them about my mission!”  
“My next scheduled talk with them is in three days. Until then, I’ll need to give you a rundown of Urth… and a disguise so humans don’t get suspicious of you.”  
“A disguise?”  
“A human disguise! They’re filthy, disgusting creatures, but you’ll need one so the humans don’t get suspicious of you.”  
“Assuming I plan to leave this place?”  
“It could be good practice for your next assignment! You should get used to walking around in disguise.”  
“If I get sent back to Meekrob, it won’t matter.”

“Better safe than sorry, sister!” Zim said simply, folding his arms. “Now, first things first, I need to introduce you to my.. family.”  
Tenn cocked her head, feeling her antennae twitch. “Fam… uh-lee? Is there an Irken word for that?”  
“No, it’s…erm... individuals you’re close to.”  
“People you love!” Skoodge added.  
“...Love?”  
Both Zim and Skoodge’s faces fell.  
“You… right. That’s not an Irken word either.” Skoodge nodded, continuing on. “It’s like Zim said, it’s people you’re close to, that you feel a strong connection with. That you care about.”  
“CONTINUING ON!!” Zim shouted, “This is Skoodge! He lived in my vent and now he’s my partner. And this is our son-slash-SIR unit, Gir! Skoodge and Gir, this is my test tube sibling, Tenn! I have a creature named Minimoose living with us, as well, but Spleenk only knows where he is.. probably the toilet again."  
“Hello!”  
“HI TENN!!!”  
As Gir waved frantically, Tenn laughed softly and waved back to him.

“So.. what are some things to do on Urth? To pass the time waiting for the next transmission from the Tallest?”  
“We go to skool to gain information about the human way of life. Knowing your enemy helps you get in the mind of your enemy, which is necessary to defeat them! If you want to come with us, you’ll certainly need a disguise. Humans can be very suspicious, but Skoodge and I have them all fooled, geniuses that we are!”  
“Okay… I’ve never seen a human before. How do you disguise yourself as one?”  
“HUSH, sibling! All will come in due time!”  
“...He means tomorrow, when skool starts up again.” Skoodge adds.  
“All right, I guess.” Tenn shrugged as Gir wiggled over to her. She laughed slightly and patted him on the head. He made a noise like a squeaky toy and fell over onto the floor.

“Now, sibling, as much as I’d like to catch up with you, I have much plotting to do! Schemes to create, plans to be had, you know the drill!”  
“I don’t.”  
“Nonetheless, I must be off. I will give you the honour of conversing with Skoodge for the time being!”

And Zim left, exiting the room with Gir hopping away at his heels. A slightly awkward silence overcame the two Irkens left for a moment.  
“Hey… where’s my SIR unit?” Tenn piped up. “You took them with you when you found me, right?”  
“No, I didn’t see any SIR units. Sorry.”  
Tenn’s face fell sharply.  
“You need to take me back to where you found me. Right away.”  
“Well, we need to get you a disguise, first... you can’t go out in broad daylight looking like that, the humans will notice.”  
“Fine. Do it. We need to get them back.”

\---

Not fifteen minutes later, Tenn and Skoodge were out in disguise, managing to scrounge up a spare wig for Tenn. She’d donned a black wig, rubbed concealer haphazardly onto her cheeks and forehead, and at Skoodge’s discretion, put a pair of Zim’s contact lenses in. Skoodge, on the other hand, simply put on a curly blond wig and colorful baseball cap to shield his face. Skoodge lead the other Irken through the city streets to the crash site, keeping their faces down and out of the sun the entire time.

When they got back to Tenn’s ship (which, fortunately, was a bit away from the city), Tenn ran to it and started rummaging through the broken bits inside. Skoodge stepped over the broken glass and looked around.  
“We’re looking for a SIR unit, right?”  
“Yes. Its eyes and shoulder pads are yellow. They’re busted up, and a little rusty..”  
“Got it.”

Skoodge opened the control pad and glanced inside the fuel tank while Tenn frantically pushed bits of debris aside, calling out Ros’ name. Then Skoodge noticed a little yellow sheet of paper stuck onto the steering wheel, taking it and looking it over.  
“Tenn? You might want to look at this.”  
Perking up, Tenn rushed over and took the sticky note from Skoodge. It read, in bold, spiky letters:

“Irken.  
If you want your robot back, go to these coordinates and ask for Dib Membrane.  
Farewell,  
Dib Membrane”

Then at the bottom were some numbers Tenn could make no sense of. She growled, scrunching up the note.  
“Dib’s at it again…” Skoodge mumbled. “He won’t hurt your SIR unit, though, probably. He’s just a kid. Kind of a pain in our side, but ultimately? Pretty harmless as long as we don’t give him any concrete proof we’re Irken.”  
“We need to find him!” demanded Tenn, looking back at the note. “Can you make sense of these?” she asked, pointing at the coordinates.  
“No.. but don’t worry. He’ll be at skool tomorrow and you can confront him then.”  
“I don’t have time for that! He could be taking Ros apart right now!!”  
“He won’t. And even if he does, we can put them back together. We have the technology to.”  
“But…”  
“Just be patient. It’s okay. We can flesh out your disguise a little more while we’re waiting for tomorrow if you want.”  
“...I’d like that. Thank you, Skoodge.”  
“Come on. We can go tell Zim what happened. I’m sure he’ll be just as happy as you to oppress Dib.”

Tenn nodded, and together they left the wreckage and started the walk home.


	2. Ludus

Tak used to care about a lot of things. Tak used to care about the Tallest and becoming Irken Elite. She used to care about destroying Zim and becoming an Invader. But after a lot of self-doubt and contemplation on the little asteroid she’d travelled on for what seemed like years (and unbeknownst to her, it was), she’d realized… she was a victim. When this realization dawned on her, she started wondering what to do about it

_overthrow the tallest overthrow the tallest you’re a queen you’re a god_

She gasped in pain, causing MiMi to glance up at her in confusion. Tak rubbed her arms. A sharp pain had gone through her body when she had that brief, intruding thought, radiating from her pak. She gave her SIR unit a little pat on the head to console it.   
“I’m okay, darling. Mother’s fine.” she hushed it, and MiMi relaxed, making a little whirring sound. Tak gazed back up at the stars. She was constantly rotating on this asteroid belt, with no way to know which way Urth was. She had to get back there and

_create a resistance kill the tallest free irk free yourself_

Tak yelped again, making MiMi whirr in concern. Tak shook her head, petting it once more.  
“It’s okay, Mims…” she cooed, and MiMi curled up with her. Tak sighed. She had to fix her problem. She had to start a resistance, but who would join her? It’d have to be fellow defectives… but the only known defective in this solar system was... Zim. For a moment, her blood boiled at the thought of working with the Irken who ruined her life… but he was a victim too, wasn’t he? His mission was a fake… the Tallest just wanted to get rid of him- no, they wanted him to die in space. It was a bit easier for Tak to feel sympathy for Zim when she thought of it like that, and easier for her vitriol toward the Tallest to grow. When she got off this blasted rock, she’d

_kill the tallest feel them smash their faces in over and over again_

It took everything in Tak to not cry out, and when the pain ebbed away she realized-- these were unauthorized thoughts. Her pak wouldn’t allow her to have them. She growled; how could she figure out how to create a resistance when she was barely allowed to think about making one? She’d have to work through the pain, but she couldn’t do it here. But how would she?

The answer to her question came in the form of a red Spittle Runner zooming towards her. She gasped upon seeing the emblem painted on the side; it was her own! Her ship had found her, finally! It parked in front of her, and the hood glowed as the ship began to speak to her.  
“SO SORRY I’M LATE, TAK! A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD KID KEPT ME IN HIS GARAGE FOR A FEW YEARS AND WHEN I LEFT HIS CONTROL I GOT CAUGHT UP IN A METEOR SHOWER.”  
“It’s fine, it’s fine! Just let us in!”  
The hood dissolved to allow Tak and MiMi to pass through, and Tak took her seat at the helm. It was time to execute her plan… to come up with a plan. Soon enough, she would

_destroy the tallest you know you want to it’s what you were made to do grip their throats_

Tak retched, grabbing ahold of the steering wheel to keep herself upright.  
“Ship!” she demanded hoarsely through the slowly-fading pain. “Chart a course to planet Urth!”

\---

New kids were always the strangest, Lucille Bitters noted. There was that odd, green, disruptive Zim boy and that Tak girl, who only showed up for three days or so, then dropped off the face of the planet. Then that Skoodge kid, who always had his eyes down. Occasionally, she’d see long black appendages protruding from his hat. And just when she thought she might be able to get through the skool year without having to deal with another one of these brats, another new girl walked into class. Pale and short, with stringy black hair pulled into two pigtails, a backpack, and a generic white shirt heading in behind Zim and Skoodge at the ring of the bell. Looking at her closely, she saw patches of green skin where her face wasn’t coloured, along with her neck and legs. What was the deal with green skin in these new kids? Was it a birth defect? Skoodge claimed it was a skin condition, and Mrs. Bitters didn’t care enough to ask. She couldn’t help but wonder, though.

The small girl made her way up to the tall, slender teacher, folding her hands behind her back like a little duck tail.

“Hello! My name’s Tenn. Zim told me to talk to you about eb-rolling in this class!”  
“...Do you mean enrolling?”  
“I think so! I’m Zim’s sister. I just couldn’t stand being away from him, so I moved to this place! I hope you don’t mind.”  
“Did your parents fill out the paperwork?’  
Tenn’s face fell deeply, and she glanced away.  
“Er… um. No. You see, our..” She paused as though trying to remember the word. “Faah… ther left us when we were sm-- kids, and our mother has no arms.”  
There was a tense silence between them for a moment, and Tenn prayed that this human would believe her and allow her to stay. She glanced at the door briefly; no sign of the dark-skinned boy with the spiky hair and the stupid face (which, of course, is how Zim described him to Tenn).

“..Yes, I understand. Fine. Go sit with the rest of the beasts. Give me no trouble and I’ll let you stay.”  
Tenn beamed, hopping over to a seat behind Zim that was so far not taken. He turned around to face Tenn right away, grinning from ear to ear. Skoodge sat further away, but Tenn knew he was looking at them, so she looked back and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled, returning it..  
“She bought it? She let you stay?” Zim asked hurriedly.  
“Yup!”  
“FANTASTIC!” he cheered as more children entered the classroom. “The puny Dib will be pulp by lunch-time!”  
“Oh, I can’t wait…if he put a finger on Ros, I’m cutting them all off!”  
“Yes! And I will feed his brain to Gir! He’s had a taste for them recently, I don’t know why.”

Tenn laughed, shutting her eyes tightly. When she opened them again, she saw… a human girl unlike any she’d seen so far- though admittedly that wasn’t a high number. She was so… unique. Blue hair, purple eyes, with a beauty mark and several ear piercings. It was unlike anything Tenn had ever seen before, and she couldn’t draw her eyes away. Zim squinted at her, turning around and immediately letting out a loud gasp as he lay his eyes on the girl. She simply smirked at him, straightening her backpack straps and walking away. A red-eyed cat materialized beside her as Tenn tapped her brother on the shoulder frantically.  
“That girl. Who is she?”  
“That is Tak!! She-- wait!” Zim’s voice dropped, and he glanced towards the door. A boy was passing through, and Tenn noticed that his backpack seemed to be overflowing slightly.  
“That’s Dib?” she asked.  
“Yes!”  
“..Huh.”  
“What do you mean, ‘huh’?”  
“I just expected him to be more intimidating is all. That guy looks like a total schlib.” Tenn shrugged.  
“Trust me, Tenn! He’s a clever foe, but no match for the great and powerful ZIM!!”  
“What about me?” Tenn whined, resting her chin on her palms.  
Zim waved her off, turning back around to face the front and glancing up at the clock. “Yes, yes, you’re good too. Now, we must be silent! Mrs. Bitters will begin the lesson shortly!”  
“Wait, quick, though-- about Tak!”  
The short Irken rolled his eyes. “Later, sister… all will come in due time. Be wary around her, however… she’s dangerous.”

But as Mrs. Bitters taught (and shouted at kids caught chewing gum), Tenn couldn’t stop herself from gazing at Tak despite Zim’s warning. She justified this to herself by saying she just liked her style and noted some aspects for her own use (such as her use of stripes and crazy blue hair- oh Tallest, she was glorious). Staring at her for too long caused her pak to heat up dangerously inside of her backpack, as though feeling this way was unauthorized and wrong. Despite everything, though, she felt herself feeling things she never had- never could before as she watched Tak scribble in her blue journal. She wondered what she was writing. She wondered if she could become her friend. She wondered if

_can i hold her hand?_

Tenn flinched violently as a sharp pain overwhelmed her and forced her eyes away from Tak. Feeling grimy, she took a pencil in her hand and started on Mrs. Bitters’ writing assignment. She wasn’t entirely sure what a ‘haikyu’ was, but she’d figure it out.

\---

A few hours later, Zim, Skoodge and Tenn were leaning against the skool, scanning around for Dib. Well, Zim and Skoodge were. Tenn was thinking about the poem Tak had written for English class. She’d sounded bored reading through it, as though she was trying to get through it as fast as possible, but Tenn had thought it was excellent. Were all other humans like her, Tenn wondered? Or was she specia--

“THERE!!” Zim shouted, pulling Tenn out of her thoughts. He was pointing at Dib, who squinted back at him. He walked up to them.

“What do you want now, Zim?”  
“It’s not what I want, Dib-stink, but what my sibling wants! You have their SIR unit and they want it back.”  
“That Irken that crashed was your sibling?”  
“Yes, Dib, we were incubated in the same test tube. Please try to keep up.”  
It still seemed as though Dib had a thousand more questions, but Skoodge held up a hand to silence him.  
“Just give us-- what was its name?”  
“Ros.”  
“Right. Just give us Ros and no one gets hurt.”  
Dib scoffed, pulling the robot out of his backpack. “You’re gonna hurt me? You and the failed Invader?”

Tenn grit her teeth. “Hand them over already!”  
“Give me another piece of your technology first.”  
“What?”  
“You heard me. With this, I could prove the existence of aliens! Malleable, stretchy metal doesn’t exist on Earth. Robots that can feel don’t exist on Earth! I’ll need something of equal value if you want this back.”  
“That isn’t happening.”  
Dib shrugged. “Fine. Then say good-bye to your little friend!” He grinned and held Ros up. Its arms dangled limply at its sides. “One day, they’ll sit on a post in the Dib Membrane Museum of the Paranormal!”

Tenn moved before she thought. She dashed forwards and grabbed Dib by the throat, holding him in mid-air. He dropped Ros to the ground, and Tenn quickly let him go to pick them up. Dib coughed, rubbing at his neck.  
“You’re insane!” he said hoarsely as Tenn cradled her broken SIR unit to her chest.   
“You’re the SIR-napper!” she said furiously. Skoodge put a hand on her shoulder to pull her back.”  
“That’s enough,” he said, glaring down at Dib. “We have what we wanted. Now go.” Fuming, Dib stomped away, sitting down a good distance away beside two girls with purple hair. Tenn sighed, looking Ros over. Zim gasped at it.  
“He destroyed it!! That little smink--”  
“No, they’ve been like this since the crash at Meekrob. It’s okay. He didn’t do anything else to them.”  
“Hm. So all good then?”  
“Yup.” Tenn put the robot back into her backpack. It stuck out a bit, as most of the space within was taken up by her pak. She sighed. “But if we could repair them a bit at home..”  
“Yes, yes, no problem. I’ll see what we can do. It’s about time Gir gets a friend! Other than me… and Skoodge… and Minimoose.”  
After Zim finished his sentence, he jumped as the bell rang. He motioned for Skoodge and Tenn to follow him, and the three of them entered the school together. As Tenn followed her brother into the school, she felt a sharp tap on her shoulder. She turned around and looked up to see Tak staring back at her. Tenn flushed, just barely visible under her concealer, and Zim frowned at the taller girl, pulling Tenn back.  
“Leave my sibling alone, you puny--”  
“Hush. I only want to have a word with them.”  
Zim scowled, but looked over at Tenn, who nodded. “It’s all right.” she said. “I don’t mind.” She didn’t understand why Zim disliked Tak so much anyway-- surely she couldn’t be that bad. He sighed in defeat and walked off with Skoodge, who didn’t seem so concerned either.

Tenn looked back up at Tak, who now had the same, small, red-eyed cat from before sitting on her shoulder. “Hi.” Tenn breathed, finding herself strangely nervous in Tak’s presence.  
“Hello,” Tak replied. “I saw you roughing up that dork earlier. You’ve got skill.”  
“Yeah? Thanks.”  
“It’s true.”  
“I-I like your style!” Tenn blurted out quickly, feeling her face flush deeper. “Erm. Your hair is very nice. I wish I could dress like you.”  
“Oh? It’s a very typical h-- I mean, er.” Tak blinked, seemingly shaken up for a moment. “It’s very typical around here.”  
“Yeah, but… you just seem… you’re unique? Is that the right word? I-I dunno…”  
“Do I?”  
“Yeah… hey, maybe you could show me where you get clothes around here?”  
“Wouldn’t you know?” Tak asked, smirking slightly. “You’re Zim’s sibling, after all..”  
Tenn stiffened up. “Well-- you know, I-I don’t get out often…”  
Tak simply chuckled. “All right. Meet me after skool, then.” She started to walk away, but Tenn called after her.  
“Wait! I need to know-- how do you know Zim?”  
Tak looked back at her and shook her head. “That’s not a conversation for here.”  
She walked off, and it was only when she turned the corner and went out of view that Tenn realized she should probably get to class, too.

\---

At the end of the day, Tenn followed her brother and brother-in-law out of the school, looking around for Tak. Zim was rambling on about how much Gir missed him while he was away at skool and how happy he’d be to have someone else at the base with him. Tenn was only sort of listening; most of her attention was focused on finding Tak. Zim caught note of his sibling’s disinterest in his monologue and turned to her.

“Are you listening to me?” he asked pointedly. Tenn jumped slightly and glanced back at him.  
“Uh- yeah, pssht, of course.”  
“It seems like you were looking for something.”  
“No.. oh!” She smiled upon finally spotting Tak in the crowd of children. She seemed to be looking for her, too, and that made Tenn’s heart pang. Zim noticed this as well and crossed his arms. Before he could say anything, though, Skoodge piped up.  
“Were you looking for… Tak?”  
“...Yyyesss.”  
“Why?”  
“Uhm..” Tenn rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, she was talking to me earlier, and I… kind of... made plans with her?”  
“WHAT?!” Zim shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. “Don’t you know that she’s… she’s evil, Tenn!”  
“What? No, she’s not that bad! I might as well try and make friends with some of the humans while I’m here, anyway…”  
“She’s not--!”  
“Tenn.”

Tak had finally caught up with the three Irkens. Tenn looked at her with hesitant excitement, while Skoodge seemed tentative and Zim only had pure disgust.  
“H-Hey, Tak!”  
“Hey. Ready to go?”  
“Yeah!” She glanced back at the other two Irkens. “I’ll catch up with you guys later..”  
Zim simply grunted.

Tak offered her hand to Tenn, who took it slowly and carefully, like she was afraid of breaking something precious. They walked off together, Tak leading, as Skoodge and Zim watched.  
Skoodge furrowed his brow. “She’s acting kind of weird, Zim..”  
“You’re telling me.”  
“...You don’t think she’s--”  
“NO.” Zim said firmly, but Skoodge remained skeptical. “Definitely not. And not with her. My spoochline has higher standards than that.”  
“Are you sure? Because if she is, she must be freaking out. I remember you were.”  
“Really? It was that clear?”  
“Oh, yeah. Most Irkens aren’t used to feeling that way, though.”  
“I suppose not. Why do you think we were able to, anyway?”  
Skoodge simply shrugged, taking his partner’s hand and starting the walk back to their home. “I have some theories. Maybe we were able to because we were away from Irk for so long. We slowly became more human after spending so much time with them.”  
“Disgusting.”  
“Well, if you don’t like that one, there’s also the possibility that Irkens love by nature, but our ability to love was suppressed by the Control B-- YEOW!!”  
Zim jumped, immediately looking his partner over with concern. “Are you all right?”  
“Y-Yeah, I’m just… oww.” Skoodge groans in pain. “That just happens sometimes… y’know. When I’m having ‘unauthorized thoughts’.”  
“Ah.”  
“Yeah.. it sucks. I gotta find a way to disable a pak’s ability to do that.”  
“Is that what you’ve been working on?”  
“Yes. I want to tinker on my own, but that would require taking it off, and I don’t want to die.”  
“I don’t want you to die, either!”  
“Aww. You’re so sweet, Zim.”

The two boys laughed together, and Skoodge took hold of his partner’s hand. They walked home together, rambling to each other about nothing in particular, Tenn and Tak put out of their minds if just for the time being.

\---

Did Tenn really think she was fooling her with her disguise? As they walked to the mall with MiMi at their heels, she’d almost given away her position, what, twenty times? She had a SIR unit in her backpack, too, she could see that clearly. A human could mistake it for something else- maybe a cheap toy, but Tak could see it for what it was. Whatever. She’d be a good player in the rebellion. She’d gotten screwed over by the Tallest almost as badly as she did. A quick scan of her pak with her ship told her everything she needed to know. She’d had a near-death experience on Planet Meekrob and it was entirely Red and Purple’s fault. Surely, Tenn would be resentful? Surely she’d want vengeance?

“So, uh… I liked your poem.” the aforementioned Irken said softly, twiddling with her free hand.  
”Did you?” Tak asked. “I’ve been practicing quite a bit recently. I’ve been almost completely alone for a long time, so writing poetry was the only way to get out my feelings.”  
“You’re really good at it.” Tenn said shyly, giving Tak a little smile.  
“Thank you. I noticed you didn’t share yours.”  
“No, I’m not good at writing or anything like that.”  
“What are you good at?”  
“Fighting!” Tenn said excitedly, before realizing that wasn’t exactly a normal human pastime. “I mean, uh…”  
Tak just laughed, lifting Tak’s spirits a bit. “I suppose I should have expected that. The way you roughed up that Dib boy was just excellent.”  
“Yeah? Thanks!!”  
“Why did you, though? Just curious.”  
“Erm... “ Tenn thought for a moment. “He had something of mine. Something important.”  
“I see. He stole it from you?”  
“Yes.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay! I mean, I got it back, so…”  
“Well, of course you did. If you had someone by the neck like that, you could make them do _anything you want.”_

Tenn opened her mouth to reply, but Tak flinched, her hand tightening up. Tenn glanced up at her, frowning.  
“You okay?”  
“Mhm. Just…” Tak looks around. There were too many humans around, damn it. This wasn’t the time. “My neck hurts. I slept on it wrong.”  
“Oh. Sorry.”  
“It’s all right. We’re almost there, by the way.” She pointed at a large building in the distance.  
“Whoa…” Tenn murmured, gazing up at the building in awe.  
“Never seen one before?” Tak laughed. Tenn flushed again-- there was something almost malicious about the cackle, but Tenn found it adorable. “It’s a mall. Where people get most of their things.”  
“I know what a mall is..” Tenn mumbled defensively. “I’ve never been in one, though…”  
“All right. I’ve been here a few times, I can show you around.”  
“I’d like that.” Tenn agreed, and Tak pulled her through the entrance.

\---

Once they were in the mall, Tak brought her everywhere- to Be-Bop Deluxe and Visage and all the other record stores she remembered from the last time she’d been on Urth. A lot of human music wasn’t so bad, honestly, and some of the music coming in through the speakers… well, she’d go so far as to say she liked it, even. Tenn seemed to, too, and once or twice Tak caught her mimicking the music’s drums with her fingers.

There were a bunch of other kids hanging out in the mall, as well, a lot of them looking much weirder than Tak. Tenn only had eyes for her, though, even as they went to what Tak remembered as her third-favourite comic book shop and passed girls who’d dyed their hair with stripes or leopard print. And Tak held her hand the whole time, even as they went into the Hot Topic and saw a boy with eight holes in each ear and a spiky choker around his neck.

“This is the place I get all my clothes.” Tak lied. Well, sort of. Her style was definitely inspired by this place.   
“Oooo…”  
Tenn let go of Tak’s hand and started to look around. All of the clothes were either black or covered in bright colours and human cartoon characters she didn’t recognize. She picked up a pair of gloves curiously, wondering what they’d look like on her hands.  
“You like it?” Tak asked.   
Tenn nodded. “Yeah. Makes me wish I had money.” she laughed.  
Tak smirked slightly, remembering her hologram. Perhaps she could share it with Tenn? The aforementioned Irken started looking around again, up at the designs of the shirts.  
“What’re all these?”  
“Human cartoons, I think,” Tak said casually, freezing up once she noticed Tenn was staring up at her in confusion.   
“...Why’d you...?”  
“...Um… Oh, gosh, would you look at the time. The mall’s about to close.”  
“It is?”  
“Yes. We need to leave.” Tak took Tenn’s hand once more and hurried her towards the nearest exit. It was at this moment that Tenn noticed Tak had three fingers instead of the normal four. Exactly what was going on here?

\---

They ended up at Central Park-- well, this city’s version, anyway. Tenn had obviously never been here before either, and even though it was wet and muddy and kind of cold, she couldn’t help but think about how nice it was. She noticed people were still heading towards the mall and furrowed her brow in confusion. She looked back up at Tak.  
“What was up with that?” she asked, and Tak sighed.   
“This.. wasn’t how I wanted to do this, but… before I do, I need to see the SIR unit in your backpack.”  
Tenn froze up. “How do you know…?”  
“Just let me see it.” Tenn hesitated before handing Ros over. Tak took it in her hands and nodded, handing it back to Tenn. She quickly put her back inside the bookbag as Tak continued to walk.

“...As you’ve probably guessed, I’m Irken too. Sorry. I needed to ensure you were without a doubt before I revealed myself to you.”  
“But you’re so…”  
“I know. It’s a hologram.”  
“Oh… that makes sense. So, why are you here?”  
“I came to Urth once years ago to… well, it’s a long story, but I intended to take your brother’s mission so I could be an Invader. He prevented me from becoming Elite, see. I couldn’t take the exam.”  
“Yeah…” Tenn laughed softly, now understanding her brother’s dislike for Tak. “I’m sorry about that… you shouldn’t have taken it personally, though. As much as I care for him, Zim ruins people’s lives a lot.”  
“Mm… I know that now.”  
“Why are you back?”  
“...I’m creating a resistance.”  
“Resistance?”  
“Towards the Tallest. And the-” Tak flinches. “Cccontrol Brains, too..”  
Tenn remained silent. This made her deeply uncomfortable.  
“I know who you are, Tenn.” Tak went on. “I know what the Tallest did to you. Left you on Meekrob. Abandoned you. You didn’t deserve that, no one does. And your brother; they gave him a fake mission and sent him out into space to die. And your brother-in-law, he was the first one to conquer his assigned planet, you know that? But the Tallest said someone else did it, just because he was short. That’s not ffffair.” Tak was very clearly in pain; her pak wouldn’t let her be.  
“...They have their reasons...”  
“Yes. The reason is that they’re delusional children.”  
“Tak, I don’t…”  
“Trust me. I’m trying to build up a group of us. You and Zim and Skoodge can be the first members, I can take us to Irk and-”  
“No. I don’t like this.”  
“Tenn, I only mean good-”  
“No, no, I don’t want o. I want to go back and continue my mission.”  
“What? So that the Tallest can have more planets to rule over?”  
“It’ll be good for our species!”  
“And horrendous for all other ones!”  
Tenn shook her head; she didn’t want to think about this. Tak took both her hands, trying to convince Tenn, but Tenn pulled back immediately.  
“Don’t touch me!”  
“Tenn, please--”  
But Tenn didn’t listen, breaking away and running off before Tak could say anything else.

\---

The next day, Tak wouldn’t even look at Tenn. She kept her face down, scribbling words frantically on her paper all day. Tenn felt miserable, constantly trying to get her attention and apologize, but Tak wouldn’t let her. Tenn still wasn’t on board with the whole rebellion thing, but losing Tak scared her. 

It was only at the end of the day when Tak left the building that Tenn could finally corner her. As she walked away, Tenn called after her, running as fast as she could.  
“TAK!! Wait!!”  
Tak looked behind her for a moment, but turned back around wordlessly upon seeing Tenn. MiMi hissed at her.  
“Tak, wait, please..” Tenn ran and stood beside her, but Tak still looked sullen. “I’m so sorry for ditching you--”  
“As you should be.”  
“Just hear me out! Please!”  
“...Fine.” Tak turned to her, crossing her arms. “Start talking.”  
Tenn pulled Tak behind a nearby wall, quickly explaining herself.“I didn’t mean to leave you. I was just… scared.”  
“Of?”  
“...Confronting the Tallest.”  
“Yes. It’d be easier to do nothing, wouldn’t it?”  
“It would…”  
“And easier to pretend they didn’t affect you.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, you’re clearly traumatized!” Tak scoffed. “We all are.”  
“I’m not--”  
“You are. You just won’t admit it. And that’s… okay.” She softened. “I didn’t admit it to myself for a long time, either.”  
“I..”  
“It’s okay, Tenn.”  
Tak gently cupped Tenn’s cheeks in her hands, making Tak’s face flush.  
“I’m sorry I made you mad at me.” she mumbled, looking at the ground.  
“It’s okay. I was angry with you because I needed your help… but I was also afraid of ruining this.”  
“This?”  
“Whatever we have. It’s the first thing in so long that’s made me happy.”  
“...That means a lot to me…”  
“Yeah?”  
“Yeah…” Tenn hiccuped. “I’m so confused now…”  
“Why?”  
“Because… if I contact the Tallest and go home, that’ll mean losing you. And I don’t want to do that.”  
“Tenn..”  
“Yesterday was fun..” she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. Some more of the concealer rubbed off, revealing green skin. “More than I’ve ever had.”  
Tak smiled sadly at her. “You still don’t want to be a part of the resistance?”  
“I don’t know… I need to think about it. I need to work through a lot before I decide.”  
“I understand.”  
“Yeah… but I just want you to know... I love you.No matter what. That’s the… highest form of human affection, isn’t it?”

Tak hesitated for a moment before replying “No. It isn’t.”  
“Than what is it?”

Tak pulled Tenn close, pausing before kissing her. Tenn smiled against her lips, wrapping her arms around the taller girl’s neck. As they kissed, Tak came out of disguise, and Tenn pulled back, looking into her dark purple eyes. Tenn started to laugh softly, and Tak laughed with her, pulling her into a tight hug. Black tears made their way down Tenn’s face, but she smiled anyway.

\---

Tak entered Zim’s base, smiling wholeheartedly. She was immediately greeted by Gir, who hugged her leg and squeaked “TENN! I MADE NACHOS. YOU WAAAANT ANY?”  
“No, thanks, I’m okay..” Tenn snickered, looking up. Zim was sitting on the sofa, curled up in a blanket. Gir let go of her leg and waddled into the kitchen, presumably to eat his nachos, as Tenn sat down next to her brother.

“Zim?”  
Zim looked over at her and let out a grunt.  
“What’re you doing? Where’s Skoodge?”  
“In the lab. Working on your SIR unit, probably.”  
“Why aren’t you with him?”  
“I can ask questions too, you know!” Zim said angrily. “Why were you out so late?”  
“I was… with Tak.”  
“Hm. Smooching the enemy, are we?”  
“She’s not our enemy. If you apologized, I’m sure you could get to know her better--”

“ZIM NEVER APOLOGIZES!” the Irken declared. “And not to the likes of Tak!”  
“That’s a shame... I’m sure you’d like her.”  
“How dare you assume what I would and wouldn’t like?!”  
“...I’m on your side, brother.”

Zim softened at this, pulling the blanket tighter around himself 

“...yeah, okay.” Zim admitted. ”I’ll… speak with her, or whatever.”  
Tenn smiled. “Good. I think you two might have a lot in common!”  
“Like?”  
“Well, you’re both very clever. You have a unique sense of style, and--”

_you both got fucked over by the tallest_

Tenn flinched, making Zim look her up and down with concern.  
“Are you all right?”  
“Y-yeah, I’m fine…”  
“Okay. The Tallest will be contacting us tomorrow, so you should rest. You’ll want to be in peak shape to impress them!”  
“R-right.”

Tenn took the blanket from Zim, who grumbled and got up to get another one. Tenn hopped into the armchair and curled up, drifting into a cloudy, dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was a drag to write. next chapter will be the beginning of miyuki's side-story. chapter four should be more fun to write. i don't think i'll be getting it out anytime soon, though, exams start soon. i'll continue to write whenever i can though!


	3. Philia

A long, long time ago, two future Tallest sat on the ledge of a roof within Irk’s capital city. One of Irk’s twin suns, Umbra and Penumbra, shone down on them with the planet’s rings in view on the horizon. One of them kicked his legs, fiddling with his hands before looking over at the other.

“Hey. Hey, Yuki?” asked the young Spork, nudging his tired friend with his three fingers. The young Miyuki let out a soft “Mm?” turning slightly to look over at him.   
“We got measured today.”  
“That’s correct.”  
“And I’m six-foot-two now!” Spork said proudly, beaming. “I know we aren’t really supposed to tell anyone, but how tall are you?”  
Miyuki paused before telling him the lie. “I’m also six-foot-two.”

Spork seemed absolutely jubilant at this, grinning from ear to ear and curling his fingers into fists. “You know what that means, right, Yuki? When Almighty Tallest Flack dies, we’ll--”  
“Rule together, I know, I know, Spork.” Miyuki chuckled. “It’s all you’ve talked about since we were smeets.”  
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”  
Miyuki hesitated. “Yes, it is. But don’t talk about Tallest Flack’s death. If anyone heard, we could be put on trial for plotting treason.”  
“Aw, boo, it’s not like we’re gonna kill him ourselves. Besides, we are p--”  
“Sshh! No one can hear! And the control brains might think so-- it’s a long tradition, Tallest-to-be killing their Tallest so they can rule sooner.”  
“Yeah, I guess that’s true… dumb assassins messin’ everything up.”  
Miyuki laughed softly, folding her hands in her lap and smiling over at her poor naive friend.

\---

Years later, an older (but not so old) Miyuki sat facing a mirror, rubbing at her newly-corseted neck. It hurt, she had to admit. She hoped staying like this for too long wouldn’t result in permanent damage to her squeedlyspooch. A command officer entered the room behind her, and she turned around to face them.

“MY TALLEST!” they shouted, bringing their arm up in a salute. “You are to begin your inauguration shortly.”  
Miyuki sighed. “Yes, yes, I know. Thank you.”  
The command officer bowed and left, leaving Miyuki to stare longingly at her thumbs until she heard the door open behind her. She turned around once more to find Spork standing there, looking dejected. Miyuki found herself unable to speak, so they stared at each other for a moment, something broken between them. Miyuki searched her mind, for something to say- anything at all, but her mind came up blank.

“...Why didn’t you tell me?” Spork asked at last.  
“Tell you what?” choked out Miyuki.  
“That we weren’t gonna rule together after all.”  
“I didn’t want to end up taller than you...” Miyuki murmured, looking down at her hands.  
“But you always told me that we were the same height! How are you suddenly ten feet tall?!”  
“My height just… changed.” she lied again.  
“You promised, Miyuki. All this time, were you just… lying to me?” When Miyuki didn’t answer, Spork tried again. “You know how much this meant to me!”  
Miyuki said nothing.  
“Answer me!” Spork shouted, causing Miyuki to wince and look back up at him.  
“I didn’t want you to…” She paused, trying again. “I never meant--”  
“Did you lie to me.”  
Miyuki tried to articulate her point once more, desperation in her voice. “You know I always tried to p--”  
“Answer me.”

A long silence fell between the two.

“...Yes. I did.”

Spork only stayed in the room long enough after that for Miyuki to see the heartbroken look on his face. He left, saying nothing.

\---

Tenn sat at the edge of the couch, twiddling with her hands and kicking her feet while Minimoose bumped into the lamp beside her over and over again. Zim had gone downstairs to tell Skoodge that they were contacting the Tallest, so he shouldn’t come upstairs. Apparently, Skoodge didn’t want to see the Tallest at all since the incident at Blorch. And honestly, Tenn _couldn’t blame him._

Tenn groaned and clutched her chest. She’d had more and more ‘unauthorized thoughts’ lately, ever since her conversations with Tak through their holograms and on the skoolyard. She was starting to think she might be a bit right, but surely they didn’t have to resort to violence? Perhaps she could change the system from the inside. She’d tried to convince Tak to come back to Irk with her, but Tak refused, knowing she’d be punished for deserting Dirt. Tenn couldn’t blame her either, she supposed- she’d heard rumours about how janitorial workers were treated, if Tak even got the luxury of becoming one.

While she was lost in thought, Zim came skittering up the stairs. Tenn looked over at him.  
“Is it time?” she asked.  
“Yes!” Zim replied. “Skoodge knows to stay downstairs. And I have some good news for you-- your SIR unit is back in order! He’s just testing their cognitive functions, oiling their joints, et cetera.”  
“Oh, good.” Tenn smiled softly, and Zim clapped his hands twice.

“Computer!”  
A voice came from all around them, and Tenn blinked in confusion. “Uuughhhh… whaaaaat.”  
“Contact the Almighty Tallest for me, please!”  
“Fffffine.”

Zim smiled pleasantly as the familiar lanky red and purple figures appeared on the screen, and Tenn felt her antennae perk up. The only difference between them since she’d seen them last was the fact that they looked a bit dishevelled, and a bit burnt?  
“My Tallest, it’s been too long!”  
“It’s been a week, Zim,” Red said annoyedly, sucking on a slushie. “What progress have you made… or, whatever?”  
“Unfortunately, none! I’ve been focusing on something a bit more important.”  
“Which is?”  
Zim waved his hand at Tenn, who straightened up and headed over to the screen, smiling nervously and trying to put on an aura of formality. “My Tallest, hello! It’s me, Invader Tenn… back from the cosmos. I-I know--”  
“Wait. Who are you?” Purple asked as Red snuck another donut from his bag.  
“I’m Invader Tenn… remember? Assigned to Planet Meekrob! I-I know I disappeared, and for that I deeply apologize. I had to escape as soon as possible, or the Meekrob would have killed me. I failed, and I accept full responsibility.” Tenn bowed her head. “But-but now that I’ve finally made contact with you again, you can assign me a new mission! I could return to Meekrob-- even with a proper disguise if you wish, Irken Tak showed me an interesting trick with a hologram-- why are you looking at me like that?”

Tenn cocked her head at her rulers, who were staring at her with confusion. Red and Purple glanced at each other for a moment when Purple finally cleared his throat and spoke  
“It’s nothing, Invader, uh… Eleven.”  
“Tenn!” the small Irken objected, prompting Purple to reply “Nine, eight, seven, six, whatever. We’ll, uh, update your mission and contact you again soon.” he said, pulling another donut from his bag and shovelling it into his mouth.  
“Wonderful! Thank you, my Tallest! I’ll begin preparations for my mission as soon as possi--”  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Red interrupted. “Get back to work, Zim.”  
The connection cut out, and Zim grinned over at his sibling. “Well? How do you feel?”  
“Good,” Tenn said simply. “I’m glad I didn’t lose Invader status, anyway…”  
“Perfect! Now all you need to do is wait.”

And wait, Tenn did. For weeks and weeks on end, Tenn went to skool and spent little secret nights with Tak and ate nachos with Gir and studied the sky with Ros, which might have been one of her favourite things of all. Earth’s sky and the planets around it were dreamlike and fantastical- she hadn’t seen many solar systems with this many planets before. Normally, it was only two or three planets made mostly of dust that had only formed a few million years ago orbiting around a star. She found this one mesmerizing. For hours at a time, though, she sat in front of the flatscreen, waiting for the Tallest to call her back. As she waited, she slowly became more and more disillusioned, and the more she listened to Tak’s rhetoric the more it made sense. More planets conquered only meant more power for the Tallest. Could she still be a part of that, knowing the consequences if the Irken Army met its goal of total intergalactic conquest?

She didn’t know. And she didn’t mention this to anyone, either, since Zim was still the number-one fan of the Tallest, Skoodge disliked talking about it, and she honestly wasn’t on-board with Tak’s idea of full-on rebellion just yet.

Her answer came in a moment of desperation for confirmation about her future, as she shouted “COMPUTER!”  
“UuuuuUUUUuuughhh. What now.”  
“Contact--” Tenn coughed, her voice breaking. “Contact the Tallest for me, please!”  
“Alright… Contacting the Almighty Tallest.”

As the Tallest popped into view, Tenn stared them down.  
“My Tallest. It’s Invader Tenn.”  
The Tallest exchanged looks again, Purple chewing on a bag of popcorn.  
“I was just wondering if you had another mission for me yet?”  
Red squinted. “Well, uh… Invader Twelve-”  
“Tenn!” she burst out angrily, immediately trying to compose herself once more. “You haven’t forgotten me again, have you?”  
“Again?”  
“You promised me another mission three weeks ago. Aren’t I getting one?”  
Purple bit his lip. “We’ll, uh… we’ll call you back.”

A click, and the Tallest were gone. Tenn felt pure fury rise up in her throat, and she had to force herself to calm down and unclench her fists.

\---

Tenn had a very difficult time getting to sleep that night. She contemplated calling Tak or waking up her brother, but decided against it, not wanting to bother either of them- and God help her if she went to Zim with anything negative to say about the Tallest. She held Ros to her chest and stared into the television screen’s static until she fell asleep. 

When she did, she opened her eyes to see that she was standing in an abyss made fully of static. Tenn looked around to find that someone was approaching her, tall and blue, barely floating above the ground like the brief flashes she’d seen of her while she was still alive.

“My… My Tallest?”  
She spoke. “Oh, please… call me Miyuki. You can’t call a dead woman the Tallest, can you?”  
“...I guess not… Miyuki.” Regarding this woman like a friend or acquaintance instead of a ruler felt strange to Tenn, but she went with it regardless. “Why are you here?” A pause. “ _Are_ you here?”  
“That’s a bit of a complicated question, I’m afraid. I can answer the former, however; a little Vortian told me you’re having a bit of difficulty with Red and Purple.”  
Tenn said nothing.  
“Is that correct?”  
“Yes.”  
“Elaborate, my dear.”  
“...They sent a bunch of defective SIR Units to the planet I was assigned to to prepare for the Great Sweep. I got injured, but they didn’t check up on me, or... or _anything_.”  
“Mhm.”  
“I managed to contact them through a fellow Irken’s equipment when I came to Urth. They said they would assign me a new mission and send me back out again to work for the empire.”  
“And they lied, yes?”  
“...Yes. They forgot about me.” Tenn’s lip quivered and her voice broke. “I don’t know what to do now…”  
“Hmph.” Miyuki’s face fell slightly. “They’ve done excellently wrecking my colony, it seems. I always knew they were fools. It’s a shame I didn’t rule longer.”  
There was silence again until Miyuki gazed down at the shorter Irken.  
“Listen, dear. Tallest die all the time, do you know that? I myself am an example.”  
Miyuki gave the smaller woman a gentle pat on the head with her two long fingers, causing Tenn to gaze up at her in wonder.  
“Tallest die,” Miyuki said, “and they leave Irk to _those more worthy._ ”  
“A-Are you--”  
“I am.”  
“But I’m not tall, no one would appoint me ruler of Irk--”  
“If you were to overpower them and take control of the Massive, they would have no choice but to bend to your will. It’s simple, dear.”  
“But how do you know I would be a good Tallest?”  
“I trust you, child. Besides, you would be light years better than Red or Purple.” Miyuki scoffed. “Even put together, they can’t do anything right.”  
“...Okay.”  
“Grand. I have faith in you, child. Now that that’s all said and done, it’s time to say goodbye, my dear.”

And before Tenn could say anything more, she awoke with a jolt, back on the armchair that may as well have been made of concrete. She went to sit up, but Ros was on her chest, so she shifted slightly in place instead, and gazed at the ceiling, wondering just how in the world she was supposed to accomplish the task her former Tallest had left for her.

\---

Tenn sat at the dining table the next day, staring down at a pitch-black mug of coffee. She didn’t care for the drink much, personally, but she needed the energy. Zim didn’t seem to notice her lethargy at first, standing over a burner and jabbering on about how GIR and Ros got along so well and how Tak had given him a packet of barbeque sauce to try and ease the rift between them. Clearly, he was still superior, but it was pleasant to finally have Tak acknowledge it. It wasn’t until Tenn was completely slumped over in her seat that he saw it.

“Sibling? Are you all right?” He walked over to her, taking her face in his hands and moving it about, looking her over. “Have you come down with a case of the schmoops?”  
Through squished cheeks, Tenn replied “No.”  
“Then what’s wrong?”  
Tenn put her mug on the table, pulling away from her brother and slumping again. “The Tallest aren’t coming back for me.”  
“Nonsense! You just need to keep your chin up and stay hopeful. The Tallest have many other responsibilities, you know. Have a little patience.”  
“No, they’re not. I contacted them last night to ask.”  
“...You did?”  
“I did. They forgot about me.”  
“Sibling--”  
“I want to go back to Irk.” Tenn blurted out. Immediately, her PAK started getting hot. “I want to go back to Irk and confront them directly.”  
“That’s ridiculous, Tenn, you know that! This is all just Tak’s nonsense garbling up your think-hole.”  
“That’s not true!”  
“It is! You wouldn’t be thinking like this if she didn’t put the idea in your head. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was turning you into a de--”  
Tenn stood up immediately, glaring daggers into Zim’s face. “Don’t say it. Don’t you dare.”  
Zim paused. “...I think you need to stay away from her.”  
“I won’t.”  
“You’re going down a very dangerous path! Need I remind you of what happened to the Resisty?”  
At this point, Tenn was almost crumbling from the pain in her chest. Her PAK certainly didn’t want her to talk.  
“Is this really what you want?” Zim asked. “Would you rather have the glory of being an Invader and better your people, _please your Tallest_ , or do you want to die labelled a defect?”  
Tenn considered this for a while, her limbs shaking. “I want change, Zim. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks. The Tallest hurt me, and they hurt Tak, and they hurt you, and they hurt Skoodge, and probably thousands more of us!”  
“It’s for the greater good.”  
“The greater good isn’t worth it, then.”

The siblings stared at each other in silence. Zim inhaled as though he was going to say something, but decided better of it. Tenn glanced to the side.  
“I’m gonna… get on my disguise. I think I’m gonna stay with Tak for a while.”  
Zim squinted. “Where does Tak even live?”  
“The junkyard, I think…”  
His antennae drooped. “You’d rather stay in a _junkyard_ than here?”  
“I just… I just have a lot I need to think about, okay?”  
“I guess I can’t stop you.” Zim muttered, crossing his arms. “You’re welcome back at any time. Just think about what I’ve said. All right?”  
“I will. Thanks.”  
Tenn turned away and left the room, scanning around for Ros, who was sitting on the couch, watching one of the human cartoons Gir loved so much. She scooped them up, and they whirred in protest as she made her way toward the door, pulling on her wig and grabbing her contact lenses.

\---

“Ros, call Tak.” Tenn asked of the little SIR unit as they sat on a public bench. They pulled a hologram out of its storage compartment and it projected blue light into the air. After a few moments, it projected Tak’s face as well.

“Tenn, darling, how are you?” she asked, her voice coming out a bit warbled.  
“Not good. Where are you?”  
“The dump… MiMi’s hunting for blankets. Why? What happened? Who do I need to kill?”  
“No one.” Tenn laughed softly. “But I… I, um. I need to stay with you for a while.”   
“Oh, cherry, what happened?”  
“I had a dream. I don’t… want to get into it right now. I got into a fight with my brother.”  
“About what?”  
“..The Tallest. They aren’t coming back for me.”  
“...I hate to say ‘I told you so’--”  
“I know, I know. Just… I don’t know what to do next.”  
“Okay, okay. Where are you? I’ll come get you.”  
“The bus stop near Zim’s base.”  
“Yes, I know which one you mean. Okay. I’m heading over.”

With a click, Tak’s face disappeared and Ros put the hologram back into its little storage compartment. Tenn rested back and waited, hoping no one passed by and questioned her green skin.

\---

Zim dumped Tenn’s untouched black coffee into the sink, muttering to himself and jumping when a pair of arms came from behind and hugged him tightly.

“Skoodge!” he protested, causing the chubby Irken to laugh and kiss his partner on the cheek.  
“What’re you doing?” he asked, pulling back and resting his elbows on the countertop.  
“Cleaning this mug out,” Zim replied bitterly. “Tenn didn’t drink it.”  
“Oh, yeah. Where is she? I made her SIR unit a little hat out of a tin can and I want to give it to her.”  
“Ugh. You’ve been giving that thing more attention than me lately.”  
“Sorry…” Skoodge mumbled. “It’s just been a while since I’ve seen one other than Gir, and he eats all my hats.”  
Zim grunted.  
“Anyway… where is she?”  
“I can’t be sure. She left earlier.”  
“In disguise, right?”  
“Of course.”  
“Good. Did she say where she was heading?”  
“She went to be with Tak. She’s gonna stay with her for a few days.”  
“Really? Why?”

Zim said nothing.  
“...Zim? Did you… _say_ anything to her?”  
“...We argued about the Tallest.”  
“..Oh.” Skoodge looked down.  
“Sorry. I know you don’t like talking about them.”  
“Yeah. No. I don’t. But I thought she was as adamant about serving them as you are.”  
“She was. But I think Tak got to her with all her… resistance nonsense.”  
“I really don’t think it’s nonsense, Zim. She has a point; the Tallest aren’t good to us. They don’t serve us, we serve them. None of what they do benefits us.”  
When Zim said nothing, Skoodge continued on. “I know you don’t like questioning your beliefs, but… she doesn’t have malicious ideals. I believe she really wants the best for Irk. And so do I.”  
Zim bit his lip.  
“I should apologize to Tenn, shouldn’t I?”  
“Yes. I’m not asking for you to join their resistance-- if they even make it a fully-fledged _thing_ , but you should apologize to Tenn. And Tak. You hurt her. I know you didn’t mean to, but you hurt her.”  
“...I did, didn’t I?”  
“It’s okay. We all make mistakes. You just need to learn how to own up to them, y’know?”  
“Yeah... I understand.”  
Skoodge pat his partner on the shoulder. “You’re gonna do fine. You just need to get used to saying sorry.”  
Zim nodded.  
“So… do you remember where the dump is?”

\---

Tenn laid awake on a mouldy toddler’s mattress next to Tak, who was sleeping soundly. Ros laid on Tak’s chest and MiMi lay at her feet, curled up in her disguise. Tenn rolled over onto her side, away from her, cringing at the sound of springs squeaking. She hugged herself as Tak piped up beside her.

“Cherry, darling… I can feel you shift. You know that, don’t you?”  
“Sorry…” Tenn mumbled, rolling back over to look at Tak.  
“You’re still thinking about what Miyuki said. Yes?”  
“Yes. But I don’t know if it was even... Miyuki. I mean, what are the odds of her… her _ghost_ coming to me and telling me to overthrow the Tallest?” She flinched; the pain was back. “More likely it was just my insecurity, you know?”  
“Yes. I understand. But if that’s the case, your mind is trying to tell you something.”  
“Yeah.” Tenn paused. “I think I know what I need to do now.”  
“What?”  
“Follow Miyuki’s advice. Go back to Irk. Fix things. Maybe that’ll make me feel better.”  
“It’ll be dangerous.”  
“I know.”  
Tak smiled. “I knew you’d come around eventually.”  
Tenn gave her a half-smile in return. “We’ll have to prepare.”  
“Romantic.”  
Tenn laughed. “It could be. We could make it, plum.”  
“Sure.”

Tenn scooched over next to Tak, lying her head on her shoulder and closing her eyes.  
“We’ll be all right, dear. You know that, right?”  
“Yeah. I love you.”  
“I love you, too, cherry.”

The two girls drifted off together, falling asleep and remaining that way until the sun came up and light came in through cracks in the corners of Tak’s cardboard box.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the tenn/miyuki scene and the beginning scene with spork & miyuki are two of my favorite parts of this whole fic. also, i consider the 'gir eats hats' line comedic gold, fight me
> 
> can't say when the next chapter will be published but i can promise it'll contain more miyuki & that it'll be wild


	4. Regicide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big ole tw for gore at the end here lads. also, there's an uncomfy power dynamic going on between miyuki and flack here; just a warning

By law, the expected future Tallest was required to undergo training from the current Tallest. This made Miyuki’s life a lot harder-- not only did she loathe Tallest Flack and plan to overturn every decision he ever made, but the Control Brains knew she was taller than Spork despite the lengths she took to hide it- holograms and lies, to be specific. Thankfully, Spork wasn’t a suspicious person and believed Miyuki’s every word, which worked to her advantage despite the fact he was never invited to the training sessions- which was good, as well! Flack would tear the sensitive, kind Spork apart, the bastard he was.

Vicious thoughts like this rippled through Miyuki’s mind whenever she was in the vicinity of the violet Tallest, who lead her through the Massive and instructed her on how properly to run it, how to rule Irk with an iron fist and the most efficient way to raze a planet. Oh, this didn’t matter to her; not at all, and they both knew it. Miyuki’s ideals were more pacifistic, and Flack enjoyed scrutinizing them every chance he got.

“...The next planet we’ll be razing is planet Vort,” he explained in his cool, deep tone. “We’ve already taken some prisoners from there. They’ll be, perhaps, the last members of their species.”  
When Flack saw Miyuki’s eyes widen and antennae perk up in horror, he smirked.  
“You find this disturbing, don’t you?”  
Miyuki glared at the taller man, saying nothing. Flack chuckled.  
“Oh, sweetheart.” he cooed, placing a hand on her head. Miyuki pulled back immediately, pushing his hand away in disgust. “You don’t understand at all, do you? If we take more planets, we’ll have more space for our population.”  
“That could be easily fixed by building further into the sky.” Miyuki spat back.  
“We’ve exhausted all the resources on Irk, child.”  
“That’s your fault! And the fault of Tallest like you.”  
“Maybe so. But we came up with a way to fix it. All you’ve done is complain.”  
“I have a plan!”  
“Oh? And what infantile fantasy do I have to listen to today?”  
Miyuki inhaled and began to explain calmly. “We need to ally with the people of a resource-rich planet. We could trade weaponry and some of our technology with them in return. It’s mutually beneficial, and it won’t end in _the total annihilation of a species._ ”  
“You’d give up some of our technology?”  
“Yes. I don’t see the problem--”  
“The problem is that they could turn on us! Irken machinery is some of the most powerful in the universe--”  
“And we stole most of it from other species.”

Flack exhaled, rubbing his temples. “Dear me, child… you’re truly the next in line? The Armada is truly going downhill.”  
“Oh, please. I’m going to do better than you ever did.” Miyuki stood, glaring daggers into her ruler’s face. “When we meet again in the cosmos, expect an ‘I told you so’.”  
The taller man scoffed. “You’re delusional.”  
“Resorting to insults? You can’t even debate a _little girl?_ You’re pathetic, Flack.”  
Flack sneered. “You will call me _the Tallest_ , child.”  
“I’ll call you whatever I want.”  
“Not unless you want me to tell you’re the Control Brains you’re defective. How about that, hm?” Flack tried to reach out and stroke Miyuki’s cheek, but she slapped his hand away. “Maybe I’ll rat you out, sweetheart.”  
“You wouldn’t.”  
“I would. And your little friend, too.”  
“Don’t you dare bring Spork into this!” Miyuki curled her fists. “He’d never hurt anyone!”  
“Then I’d like a modicum of respect from you, Miyuki.” Flack glanced at the clock. “Our time is up. I’ll let you go, but next week I expect that you refer to me as ‘Tallest’, or ‘Almighty Flack’. Got it?”  
“Fine.” Miyuki got up to go, but Flack grabbed ahold of her wrist.  
“Fine, what?”  
Miyuki bit her lip, feeling herself start to shake. “Fine, my Tallest.”  
“Good.” Flack let her go. “You may leave.”

Miyuki turned and left as quickly as possible. When she left the room, she started running, and didn’t stop until she escaped the Massive.

\---

By law, the expected future Tallest was required to undergo training from the current Tallest. This made Miyuki’s life a lot harder-- not only had she lost her best friend, but she had to babysit a pair of infantile boys once a week while trying to form an alliance between Irkens and the Nundu. Red and Purple were the next two Tallest hopefuls-- the question was just which one of them was going to turn out taller. It didn’t matter to Miyuki; both of them were utter morons and they were already too corrupted with Irken propaganda for her to convince them of her cause. So Miyuki took measures to prolong her own life and let Red and Purple do their thing, following her around like ducks to a mother goose. She’d give them donuts every once in a while, growing to care for them despite them being a slight nuisance. She’d always had a soft spot for smeets.

Spork was supposed to show up to the training too, in case Miyuki died unexpectedly and he had to take over. He didn’t. The loss of him hit Miyuki pretty hard. She’d hoped he’d get over it soon, and she could apologize to him fully. She’d even wanted to give him the unofficial title of ‘second-in-command’. But he didn’t return. And Miyuki was set to bear the burden on her own.

“Almighty Miyukiiii?” Purple whined, and Miyuki looked across from him over her teacup, blueprints on her lap.  
“Yes, dear?”  
“Are you gonna die yet?” he asked, and Red piped up with “We want your big ship!”  
Miyuki simply laughed, not thinking anything of the question. “Oh, you wish. I’m going to be around for a long, long time, boys.”  
Both of them groaned, and Red knocked his head against the wall.  
Miyuki took a sip of her tea, placing it back on the table and looking back over her blueprints.  
“Tell you what. I’ll take you for a little joyride later, okay? Just let me look at these.”  
The pair looked at each other with glee, and Purple jumped for joy.  
“Yesss!”  
“Thank you, my Tallest!”

Miyuki looked up again, smiling at the two. “Oh, please, dear. Just call me Miyuki.”

\---

Tenn sat with the two SIR units in a pile of junk, waving a little mouse toy above them as they tried to grab it. She laughed as Tak looked over her Spittle Runner, checking the wires and oiling up the gears for the long journey they were going to take. Tak crawled out from under her ship, wiping dust from her face. 

Tenn looked over at her and called out “Is everything good over there, plum?”  
Tak gave her a thumbs-up, and Tenn beamed, standing up and heading over to her.  
“Now, what else do we need?”  
“We have enough food for the journey-- mostly canned, of course. Fluids. Some books, so we have entertainment..”  
“I thought you didn’t like human books?”  
“Well, they’re better than nothing.”  
“Yeah, definitely.”  
Tak rubbed her chin. “We’ll have the SIR units to speak to as well.”  
“Right.”  
“Hm. Anything else you can think of?”  
“Nah… I think we’ll be oka-- wait. No. _Weapons._ ”  
“I have you covered.” Tak grinned. “Humans have these things called ‘Molotov cocktails’. You just light them up, lob them, and they explode.”  
“Perfect! Anything else?”  
“Kitchen knives, and some Irken weaponry I took from Dirt. We’re fine on that front.”  
“Wonderful.” Tenn looked around and inhaled. “So… we should go?”  
“If you’re ready. Shouldn’t you say goodbye to your brother?”  
“...I don’t think so. Maybe it’d be better if I--”  
“Tenn?”

Both girls turned around to see Zim standing in the dirt. MiMi whirred and ran to stand next to Tak.  
“...Zim.”  
“...Where are you going?”  
Tenn shifted, rubbing her arms. “We’re… going to Irk.”  
“...You’re going to confront the Tallest.”  
“Yes. I’m sorry.”  
The three stood in silence for a long time.  
“I want to come with you.”  
“What?”  
“You heard me. I can’t let you go alone-”  
“I’m here, if you haven’t noticed.” Tak snarked.  
“Yes, yes, but…”  
“Zim, you don’t need to. We’ll be fine--”  
“Going up by yourselves against the Irken Armada? I don’t think so.”  
“But you love the Tallest.”  
“...If… if so many people have seen something about then I haven’t, then… maybe I’m wrong.”  
Tenn smiled softly, walking over to Zim and hugging him. She pulled back quickly, though, and motioned towards Tak’s Spittle Runner.  
“After you, brother.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, the ship launched into the sky with a cry of “HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!”, its inhabitants ready for another long and solitary journey through the cosmos to their home planet. 

\---

It was widely speculated that Tallest Miyuki died in a freak accident involving Invader Zim (leading to an attempt to reencode him and delete the data from his PAK) and a flesh-eating blob, but that simply wasn’t true. Miyuki, nearing the end of her life, became more and more bitter and lonely, angered by the fact that her attempts to rebrand Irk as a more peaceful society were largely unsuccessful. Seeing her failings, Red and Purple decided it was time to take the future of Irk into their own hands.  
“Ma, you need to relax,” Purple told her, gently pulling her away from the stand and leading her into a separate room. “You’re working yourself to death.”  
“Yeah, you look pale.” Red agreed, pulling her along. The exhausted Miyuki nodded, rubbing one of her eyes with her gauntlet.  
“Yes… yes, perhaps you’re right.” she agreed, following along. The two boys pulled her away from the main room of the Massive and when the commission officers found her next her entrails were hung up all over the pipes.


End file.
